Author of the Month – Gulf Coast Authors

Pilot and author Michael Byars Lewis is a man of various talents. Trained as an artist as a young man, he worked his way through college selling paintings and working as an illustrator for a Baton Rouge advertising agency. After graduating from Louisiana State University, he did what every college graduate does . . . he moved to the beach to sell suntan lotion. After getting serious about life, he set his sights on a flying career, sold everything he had that would sell, and began taking flight lessons. His first flight, in a Cessna 152, was a memorable one. It took place on a grass runway and the first approach to land had to go around because a cow was on the runway! Things improved from there and Michael went on to a distinguished military and civilian flying career in a variety of high performance aircraft. A professional pilot, he has accumulated over 5,000 flying hours in military and civilian flying, including his time as an airline pilot flying the 737-200 and the 737-800.